Revenge
by GodLikesMudkipz
Summary: Zack And Cloud have a mysterious back story. After a tragic event Zack and Cloud have to team up with Barret and the others to defeat Sephiroth for everything that he has done to the two. They go on the biggest adventure that anybody as ever had and meet interesting people along the way.
1. Chapter 1

Zack, Aerith, Tifa and Cloud all go to the same school and are all in the same classes. Zack and Aerith are going out and are pretty serious about their relationship while Cloud thinks he has been friend zoned by Tifa. Anyway, nothing interesting happens in their school and the same happens everyday. It's outside of school where things get interesting. The planet these four live on isn't a normal planet. It's full of magic and monsters that can scare and/or amaze anyone going there for the first time. Where they all live is pretty rough, on the outskirts of town. Aerith has a nice house but in a bad location, Zack and Cloud have to live together as they have left their home town. Tifa stays with her friend Barret at a bar he owns. But this one time when they were at school something fascinating happened that would change their lives forever.

"Man, school is such a drag, I'm glad this is our last year. I just want to go out exploring this amazing and beautiful world." Zack stated

"Yeah but isn't it dangerous? I mean just think about it. Anywhere you step a monster could just jump out of nowhere and start attacking you and as for the beautiful part. The only beautiful place in this world is Mideel and that's only because you can see the life stream!"Cloud replied

"Wow, you don't have to be such a buzz kill man. Just think about it. We could change this world if we wanted to instead of being stuck in this boring school. I know we're small compared to this big planet but we have a chance" Zack replied losing a little faith in his plan.

"Zack, you're talking rubbish. No one can change this world. Shinra have ruined everything about it. Everywhere is dull, lifeless and boring. Only a lunatic like you could see something special about this planet"

"This planet is special because Aerith is on it"

"Here you go saying the same cheesy things as you always do. Zack I'm not stopping you from doing what you want I'm just saying my opinion"

"It doesn't seem like that! It seems that you want to stop everything that I wanted to do just because you don't agree with it! Anyway lets not have this conversation now, we'll save it for later. I'll also ask Tifa and Aerith if they would consider travelling with me."

Everybody was sitting in maths class writing down revision for their exams that they're having next week. Zack sits next to Tifa while Cloud sits next to Aerith.

Zack is a know it all. He's a very tall muscular man with good intentions and always wants to be the hero without ever saying anything. He became friends with Tifa after him and Cloud saved her from a group of guys when she was fourteen. Zack has thick, dark black hair and will occasionally change his hairstyle from time to time. Zack also knows how to use a sword which and he also taught Cloud.

Tifa is a small women with a big chest. After the event that her, Zack and Cloud became friends she learned martial arts for two years and was better than anyone else in her class. Because of this she is a very skilled fighter and will not mess about when it comes to battles. Tifa also has black hair but instead of changing it she keeps it tied back at the very end.

Aerith is a loveable girl that only started their school three years ago when she was fourteen. She moved after her mother and father died and she was taken in by an old women. Aerith knows more than what she says and with a mysterious background everybody just wants to get to know her more. Aerith's hair is drawn back in a thick plait with a large pink ribbon which makes her stand out from any other girl in her classes.

Cloud is a very interesting person. He always acts like he doesn't care even regarding his friends and is very small compared to Zack. Cloud knows how to use a sword as well, thanks to Zack. He has very spiky blonde hair and his eyes are blue and glow for some odd reason. After Cloud helped Tifa out with Zack he got a very strong liking towards her but is scared that she has friend zoned him and they will never become official.

Zack and Cloud lived in the same town together when they were young and left after a tragic event. A man with long white hair slaughtered the town leaving the two boys alive to come and find him some day and seek revenge.

Suddenly as the bell went to announce the end of class a huge explosion went off in the room next door.

"Stay here!" the maths teacher yelled leaving the room as fast as he could.

The school's alarm was going off as loud as it could and an announcement from the headmaster telling everyone to stay calm and that everything is ok.

"I wonder what happened?" Cloud asked Zack

"Me too, I just want to go home. We were finally gonna play that game tonight weren't we?" Zack replied

"Yeaah.. About that. I have a job to do tonight so that I can get extra pay and we can afford to pay our bills for once"

"I think it's funny how you guys buy video games and consoles and all these other things yet you can't even afford your bills!" Tifa butted in trying to prove a point.

"Well we're trying our best! You should try to afford an apartment at the age of 17 while still going to school! It's hard y'know." Zack was getting kind of pissed off.

"Yeah well you shouldn't be wasting that money for video games!"

"What else would we do in our spare time? Twiddle our thumbs?! And anyway it's not like we can't afford it by that much we just can't pay about 500gil out of 6000 every month"

"It will all add up! Then you and Cloud will be in debt for the rest of your life!" Tifa said with a smirk.

There was an awkward silence between the four even though the alarm bell was still going off and screams could be heard from everywhere.

"I don't think you should have had this conversation right now Tifa" Cloud said with a sigh.

"You two should make things secure before you buy all these fancy things though..."

"Just stop it there Tifa. Soon I won't even have to pay the bills any more because as soon as I leave school I'm going." Zack responded.

Suddenly the maths teacher ran back telling the whole class to run for their lives and jump out the window. The teacher got his neck slit by a long, white sword. A man standing in the door started asking for Zack and Cloud.

"No...way.." Cloud shockingly said

"It's...you!" Zack screamed charging at the man.

"LEAVE US ALONE!" Zack picked up a chair and threw it at him, the man moved a little to the left and it missed.

"I left you two alive and you can't even try to fight back? Pitiful"

"Because we're in school you jackass! We have real weapons at home!" Cloud informed him.

At this point everyone else in the class stood at the back of the room leaving Cloud and Zack to talk to this man alone.

"Oh your house? Hahahahaha... Your house... I burnt that down."

"WHAT?!" Tifa screamed

"You see, I never had a house growing up. Or a mother. Or a father. The reason I burnt down your home town and slaughted everyone was because I learnt that my mother was experimented on in your village and my father went crazy and helped. I learnt that everyone in the village was in on this stunt and my mother was helpless. I don't know who she is, what her name is or what she looks like. I don't know what my father looks like or what his name is either. I let you two live so you could suffer my pain because of the scum you were raised as." The man started walking around Zack and Cloud in circles.

"How does it feel knowing that I killed your parents? Does it fill you with anger? Does it make you hate me? If so, good. Let that anger and hatred take over your body and become someone like me. I've been searching for you boys for about five years and to see that you lived in the slums was priceless. I left your weapons outside. We'll be seeing each other again soon." He said manically

"What's your name?!" They both asked

The man turned away walking out of the room and turned his head.

"Sephiroth..."

Sephiroth flew out of the burning building and left everyone in the classroom to burn.

"We have to do something!" Aerith shouted.

"Everybody just run! Follow me!" Zack screamed.

Zack ran to grab Aerith's hand to make sure she got out of this thing alive and Cloud also grabbed Tifa's and she looked shocked. They were on the third floor and the stairs going down took forever.

Luckily Cloud and Zack were fast, so they picked up the girls and headed towards the stairs.

"Put me down you idiot! I'm fine by myself!"

"Wow Tifa you're so stuck up" Cloud said "I'm only trying to be nice by helping you out. If you want I'll throw you down the stairs when we get there." He added.

"Yo! Cloud! Did you get our weapons?!" Zack asked looking behind him and seeing troubled Cloud.

"Sure did! Tifa is holding them!"

"We're right by the stairs let's slide down the rail!"

"Will do Zack!"

After a struggle to get out, they finally managed it. Fire trucks are parked everywhere outside the school with police scattered around the area looking for the culprit. Everyone came running towards Zack and Cloud to ask them about what happened and who did it.

"Well... It was a man called Sephiroth. He had long white hair and long sword to go with it. He was wearing a black leather like coat. He killed innocent people and wants me and my friend to pursuit after him in revenge." Cloud stated.

The group ended up leaving the scene as they did not want this to concern anybody else.

"Zack... In school... You said you were 'going' after school is finished... What did you mean?" Aerith asked with a frown on her face.

"I meant... That after school is finished I'm leaving this whole place to travel the world."

"I'll go with you!" She insisted.

"You can stay here and be safe! Me and Cloud have to go and find that man now anyway and kill him. We don't want you to get involved!"

"No I want to go!" She was getting annoyed because of Zack's overprotection for her.

"If Aerith is going I'm going too! And anyway Zack I can get Barret and his friends to come with us too" Tifa said.

"Barret who is he?" Zack was curious.

"He's knows these awesome people I swear! He knows this engineer who has a bad obsession with swearing called Cid.

He knows this tiger like animal who is the last of it's race called Nanaki.

He knows this badass dude called Vincent who is seriously one of the most awesome people I have ever met"

"Thanks Tifa..." They all said.

"I didn't mean it like that! Anyway I'm just trying to say that he knows a lot of people to help us out on this journey that we're going to be having."

They all walked through Sector 6 to get to Sector 7 and to the bar Tifa mentioned. The bar was pretty run down and inside was a pinball table, a snooker table and the bar itself.

"Tifa!" a voice coming from upstairs yelled with surprise.

"I seen you on the TV Tifa and your friends! Daddy knows about everything that has happened and wants to help Zack and Cloud on their journey to defeat that evil man!" The voice was coming from a little girl who had ran down the stairs. She had brown hair and brown eyes and looked really cute. She had a hairstyle like Aerith's.

"Marlene that's great! So where is Barret? I need to talk to him about it." Tifa said with a smile on her face.

"He's gone into the secret place with his friends! He's discussing this issue with them" Marlene looked towards Zack and Cloud "Don't worry guys! If you have Tifa on your team she will beat that bad guy up like there's no tomorrow!" Marlene then began to punch the air.

"Thanks kiddo" Zack thanked her and began looking around.

"So... are we going to see him then Tifa?"

"Zack hold your horses! Barret has a gun for his right arm so don't say anything about it, he doesn't like talking about it. Vincent doesn't talk a lot and Cid is cocky, you'll see the other people when we get there" Tifa informed the whole group and then began to take them to the secret place under the bar.

"If you just pull this lever..." Marlene pulled on the lever as hard as she could and ended up making it work. They began to travel down to meet everyone and ask them for their help. Cloud was a bit nervous but Zack was dying in anticipation to meet everybody. He wasn't sure if Cloud even wanted to come but there is no way to get out of this.

"Daddy!" Marlene hopped off of the platform and ran and hugged her dad. Barret picked her up and put her on his shoulders.

"So these are the little shits that got into trouble?" a mysterious voice coming out from the corner. The man began approaching him. He was wearing goggles on his head and had the same colour hair as Cloud but his was much shorter. "Names Cid, engineer and pilot. Been up to space."

"Nice to meet you Cid" Cloud reached out to shake his hand and Cid shook it firmly.

"I don't want any fucking around if I'm on your team so you better not be a pair of pussys!"

"Cid don't swear infront of Marlene".

"Yeah, sorry Barret".

Barret analysed Cloud and Zack respectively before introducing himself. He wanted to get a brief idea just from appearance what he'd be working with.

"I know about what happened to your house but do you have any weapons?" he asked

"Indeed we do, Tifa has them" Cloud replied.

Barret analysed the fusion sword that was Cloud's and the Buster sword that was Zack's.

"You two are packing heat! How did you get weapons like these?"

"Well I got mine from my old friend Angeal who has sadly passed away and Cloud made his himself"

"You two are pretty awesome if I do say so myself" Cid commented.

In the far corner was a strange man. He was wearing a red cloak and his hair was nearly covering his whole face because of his red bandanna. Marlene seemed to love him though and would hide in his cloak too. He seemed to be holding a gun in his hand and had a golden gauntlet on his left arm.

"I see you find me intriguing" he said staring at Zack and Cloud and they were staring back.

"My name is Vincent Valentine, I prefer not to talk. I will help you two out as I know the truth behind that white haired man you mentioned on TV. I need to tell him everything about who he is and his real mother and father."

Zack and Cloud fell silent for a minute. They didn't know how to react. People they have never met before offering to help them out just out of kindness. A young girl then approached them and started giving them funny looks.

"The names Materia Hunter Yuffie! Nice to meetcha!"

"HEY! YOU'RE THAT GIRL THAT STOLE 150GIL FROM US!" Cloud shouted at her in front of everyone not even realising it. "I don't want your help" he added.

"Who said I was going to help you out anyway? Blonde headed bimbo"

"Well why else would you be here if you didn't want to help?"

"OK, You got me there. But I'm not helping you. I was only going to come to find the materia. My precious babys"

"Oooook then..." Zack said kind of creeped out.

After the introduction of Nanaki and Cait Sith everybody wanted to get to know Zack and Cloud more.

"So tell us about yourself, I know you helped out Tifa when she was fourteen and I'm so happy you did"

"No problem!" they both replied to Barret who had a big grin on his face.

"So, basically when we were six Sephiroth burnt down our home town as that is were his mother was experimented on. The whole village knew it but didn't stop it. He didn't know his father, mother and he didn't have a home town so he slaughted everyone and burnt down everything. He let us live because he wanted us to go through the same pain he did and from a young age we came to the slums and have lived here ever since"

"Sounds pretty fucked up" Cid expressed some sadness towards the two.

"Now he wants us to fight him, he didn't even tell us where to find him" Cloud felt kind of depressed at this point. He didn't want to join Zack on his journey around the world but now he's being forced to do it with people he has never met before. He was happy that they wanted to help but something seemed strange.

Why would these people do this for free? There had to be a catch.

"I'm sorry to ask this... but is there a catch for you helping us?"

The room fell silent.

"No..not at all" Barret replied quickly and with a smile.

"Cloud how dare you ask that! I brought you here and these people are offering to help! I'm so disgusted!" Tifa reacted fiercely. She felt anger flow through her veins and her face went red.

"Tifa calm down! I would of asked the same question it probably seems strange for these two" Barret was mad at Tifa for overreacting. He knew were Cloud was coming from.

"We leave tomorrow, get ready. Go out and buy everything that you need with the gil you have left. You can stay here tonight too" Barret added while staring at Zack and Cloud

"Umm... Excuse me. My name is Aerith and I'm tagging along if you don't mind. I was wondering... can I stay here too?"

"Sure, you've been silent so far so it would be good if we can get to know each other before we set off"

"Thank you a whole bunch! Well c,mon Zack lets go buy stuff with our money!" Aerith grabbed Zack's hand and began heading towards the platform to take them back up to the bar.

"You should spend all of your gil that you have, when you're adventuring you find a lot all over the place" Barret informed Zack.

Zack turned around and thanked everybody for their kindness then waved his hand.

"Yeah! Tonight is gonna be like a sleepover!" Marlene said ecstatically.


	2. a long day

"Those people seemed nice." Aerith said to Zack. They were heading towards a shop next to Aerith's house back through Sector 6. She wanted to tell her mother about everything that has gone on and say that she was leaving to. The slums were horrible, foul stenches came from everywhere and rubbish was like dirt, it was everywhere. To get back to Sector 5 through Sector 6 was an adventure within itself.

"I think so too! Cloud seemed shy then though. He's usually trying to impress everybody that he meets."

"Maybe he wasn't feeling up to it today. Maybe he remembered everything that happened that day. Zack... if you don't mind me asking can you tell me what it was like being there and how did you cope?"

Zack looked at Aerith in her big beautiful blue eyes and nodded.

"Well, I witnessed my own mother and father being burnt alive with my own two eyes. Our house was on fire at the time and I never thought I could escape. I couldn't do anything. I was as helpless as a corpse. I eventually came to my senses and realised that they were not going to come back and ran out of my house with tears pouring down my face. The person next door to me, Cloud was also outside of his house at this time. We never talked to each other a lot but I did like him. The flames were as hot as lava, or so it felt like it and my skin was on fire. The back of my throat was killing me and I could hardly breath or talk. I could still hear some screams coming from some of the houses but I didn't know what to do, me and Cloud ended up running for our lives. Then we turn around. Probably one of the worst things we could of done. A man, with white long hair who we now know as Sephiroth was in my town with his sword. He rounded up all the survivors and started slicing their throats. He was laughing manically and then noticed me and Cloud in the distance. He killed everybody else and began to approach us. He gave a long speech and ended it by saying he will let us live so we can go through his pain and then he took off. My heart was in my mouth through all of it."

Aerith then hugged Zack and kissed him on the lips.

"I'm so sorry for asking."

"No, it's ok I probably would of told you sometime anyway about the truth of that day."

"But... it seems so unreal. I can't imagine anything like that happening to anyone and you're such a strong person that I had no idea things were that bad. I love you Zack, please don't leave me."

"I wouldn't leave you for the world, I love you too much."

They ended up walking through the rest of Sector 6 while holding hands and going into the shop that Aerith mentioned earlier.

"I heard that this place something gets really good mater- SHIT!" Zack just remembered something.

"What is it Zack?"

"If Sephiroth burnt down our house, does that also means he destroyed our materia? Urrrrr, I'm gonna have to buy all of them again!" Zack got infuriated but let out a huge sigh instead of doing something infront of Aerith.

"I'll help you." Aerith said with a big smile on her face. "It will be fun."

"It will add to our adventure I guess!" Zack tried to act happy but inside he felt really angry and sad. Everything him and Cloud had worked for has gone he didn't know what to do.

"Well lets buy things like Barret said we should!"

Zack ended up buying a few potions and an All materia with his last gil.

"Why did you use it all?" Aerith asked.

"Can't you remember? Barret told me to!"

"Oh yes, sorry. I can't wait to start this adventure. I want to defeat that man for all he put you through."

"Shouldn't we go and tell your step mother about this adventure?"

"Yes I guess we should, let's go."

Zack and Aerith went towards the rough side of the slums. Drug dealers everywhere and people staring at Aerith eyeing her up.

"Don't worry they won't do anything, now lets just go to your house!" Zack said with a smile.

"Right!"

After a short walk they ended up at Aerith's gorgeous house. If you were handed two pictures of the slums and her house you would think they were two different places. Flowers everywhere and a nice waterfall right next to them. Birds chirping and the Sun shining brightly down on everything around it. Aerith gently knocked on her front door and entered.

"Hi Aerith, glad your back."

"Hi Mum, this may be a bit sudden... But I'm leaving."

Her mothers face changed from this loving and caring face to this face filled with disgust. The front room to her house was pretty well kept. There was a nice and comfy couch to the left, right next to a gigantic TV. There was a table in the middle of the room for when it was time to eat, it had a nice silk like cover over the top of it to stop the dust from getting onto it. And on the walls there were pictures of her and Aerith. The walls were painted a nice yellowy colour and the floor was wooden.

"Aerith... I seen the report on TV but I didn't think you'd go this far."

"I'm sorry mother but I found out the truth from Zack. He already has 7 other people helping and I don't want to miss out!"

"So I see... He's forcing you to do this!"

"No I'm not!"

"Zack stay out of this. He isn't mother. Look I can't tell you the truth from that day but that is the reason I want to help Zack and see his mission through. I want to help like everybody else and that is what I'm doing. Besides school is destroyed anyway so what else am I going to do?"

"Aerith! I can't believe you're doing this to your own mother!"

"It's not like that at all! Stop being so overprotective of me and let me do what I want! I'm 17!"

"Aerith just go. I knew this time would come someday that you would want to leave this house."

"I'm sorry mother, I just can't sit by and let something like happen. I have to go."

Aerith's mother walked up to her slowly and hugged her. She stared at Zack. She then looked up at Aeirth and her faced changed back to what it was before.

"Ok Aerith you can do this but just once. You! Zack! You're supposed to be her boyfriend aren't you? Protect her!"

"With my life ma'am."

"I'll see you again hopefully when your journey is over Aerith. I love you."

"I love you too."

And then just like that Aerith left the house with Zack ready for the journey they will all be participating in very shortly.

"We should get back soon, everybody must be wondering what we're doing"

Zack and Aerith headed back to the bar and took the secret way down to get into their base.

"Hahaha Barret then she said that we're breaking up!"

"HAHAHAHA CLOUD YOU'RE AMAZING. Oh here's Zack and Aerith"

"Hi Zack" Cloud just barely noticed them after talking to Barret.

"Looks like you opened up a bit more Cloud" Zack said jokingly.

"Yeah well did you know that all these people are awesome?! Barret is one of the funniest people I know along with Cid"

"I'm glad to see that you're all getting along. When I was out I stocked up on Potions, and Ethers. I also got an All materia assuming you had something to go with it"

"Hey Yuffie, don't you have that Full Cure materia?" Vincent asked her from the back of the room.

"Yes I do Vincent but I don't want to give it to them guys over there, I don't like them." Yuffie whispered back.

"Can I have it? I'll give it back I promise. I just don't want that All materia to go to waste"

"I guess Vincent... But it's MY materia not yours so don't go selling it or anything..."

"I won't. Hey Zack! I have a Cure materia over here"

"Oh thanks Vincent! Good to know this won't go to waste"

"You dumbass, why did you buy something that you weren't sure about?" Cloud asked.

Zack then sat down next to Cloud on the couch with Cid and Barret sitting. Under the table between the two couches lay Nanaki and Cait Sith

"Well Cloud, Barret told me to spend all of our gil as it is easy to get more when you're out and anyway, I know about materia hunter Yuffie and I knew she would have something to go with it"

"Hmm good point. Yuffie come over here a minute"

"What do you want you bimbo?"

"Hey stop calling me that! Anyway I just wanted to about how much materia do you have?"

"About 1000 why?"

"WAIT WHAT 1000? THATS LIKE ALL OF THEM ON THE PLANET RIGHT?"

"Why are you sounding so surprised you Bimbo? And No. There are more materia popping up everyday"

"I guessed as much, anyway thank you"

"I don't know why you wanted to know but no problem I guess"

"I wanted to know so I can think of all of the materia combinations I can come up with for us to use"

"Clever thinking..."

Nanaki and Cait sith don't say a lot but when they do it's usually important. Cait sith is a spy that works for Shinra but feeds the information back to the group. Nanaki likes to act mature but when you get to know him he's a big baby.

Barret stood up and pointed in the corner.

"Aerith, Cloud and Zack there is where you will be sleeping"

"You mean on the floor?" Aerith asked.

"No, Cid is going to build you a bed there, Aerith and Zack can sleep together and Cloud can sleep on the top bunk"

"Wait how did you find out about me and Aerith?" Zack asked.

"Cloud told me everything about you two and I think it's really cute. So you two will be sleeping together tonight...unless you want to sleep with Cloud..." Barret had a pervy face right now.

"No it's ok I want to speak to the other two guys over there" Zack began to look at Nanaki and Cait Sith. He approached them and sat down in a calm and cool manner with Aerith following. The table they were under was pretty big but unstable and Nanaki looked to be sleeping but Cait Sith was wide awake.

"Hey guys!" He screamed

"Hey Cait, we haven't talked yet and I'd like to get to know you better, if that's ok?" Zack was the most curious of this person than anyone else. Cait Sith is like a teddy bear and is controlled via a human being. No one knows who he is but he works for Shinra as a spy for Barret.

"Yeah that's fine Zack! Just to get one thing clear I'm a spy BUT I spy on Shinra, not you!"

"So what are they working on right now?"

"Nothing much, they don't bother anyone anymore. Barret and his team defeated them about six months ago and after that they stopped doing all that terrible stuff they did"

"Like what?"

"Oh. You don't know? They would test on humans and animals to try and create the 'perfect being' they would modify genes and create clones to make into armies. These guys were really screwed up and... Nanaki was tested on too"

"HEY! I didn't want to tell them that" Nanaki suddenly awoken from his sleep and Cait Sith still sitting on his head like always.

"Get off of me you stupid teddy bear!"

"Hey! No need to be like that Mr Meanie-bo-beanie!" Cait Sith got off of Nanaki and sat on Aerith's lap.

"You're a pretty girl"

"Thanks" she replied.

Cait Sith started to laugh hysterically over the face Zack was pulling because he said one little thing.

"Cheer up big guy it was only a compliment for her, you should be proud to have such a beautiful women as your girlfriend" Cait Sith tilted his head a bit and gave off a smirk.

Tifa then barged in the room and prepared dinner and everybody sat on the couches. Aerith, Zack, Cloud and Tifa on a big, black bulky one. While Barret, Cid and Yuffie were sitting together on a small couch nudging each other every time they were trying to take a bite. They were all having a healthy meal tonight to prepare for tomorrow. Vincent was off playing with Marlene stating that he will have his later, Cait Sith can't eat because he's a plushie and Nanaki was asleep... again. The room kind of stank of B.O but no one wanted to say anything as it would be disrespectful. Some of the posters on the wall were just barely hanging on and they left marks from where they were before. The ceiling needed bleaching as well because black marks were everywhere making the place look hundreds of years old. No one was having a conversation or trying to make one as they were all chugging down on their food until Cid finished.

"Tifa you make some of the best food I have ever tasted!"

"Thanks a lot Cid, I'm trying out new recipes as Barret is getting fat..."

"I'm NOT!"

"Hahaha Barret you just got owned by a lady..."

"Not really Cid"

"Both of you be quiet, I was only joking. Barret you're fine the way you are"

"Wow Tifa did you make that dinner?" Cloud felt refreshed after everything that happened today. "It was amazing!"

"Thanks, Cloud I'll take your plate out now and yours Zack"

"Cid when are you building our bed? I'm feeling really tired and need to lie down for a bit"

"What do you mean when? It's already built you Bimbo!"

"Aww don't you started calling me that too..."

"I'll call you whatever the fuck I want"

"Please don't. Only Yuffie can say it"

"Why only her?"

"Because she's special"

"Hahaha Cid he likes me more than you!"

"Cloud is that true?"

Cloud stayed silent.

"You asshat! I'll destroy that bed in a minute!"

"But I never said anything and besides wouldn't that be unfair on Aerith and Zack?"

"Mmm you got me there you lucky sod"

After a long and dragged out conversation about who Cloud likes more and why Marlene came down again to say goodnight to everybody.

"Good night everybody!" Marlene then began to go around the room and hug everybody. She hugged Vincent the most and then proceeded to head towards Cloud and Zack.

"Good night guys!" She said with a smile on her face. She was wearing teddy bear pajamas and her hair was loose.

"Night, night!" they both said. Marlene then hugged them both tightly and then went back up to bed.

"Something seemed to be on her mind" Vincent informed everybody. He always looked after Marlene and to him he thought he did more than Barret but he never said anything to him. Barret is her real dad but Vincent liked to pretend to be a dad at times by playing house with her. Vincent had a tragic back story that he never likes to talk about but Marlene knows and he thinks that is why she pays so much attention to him.

"Like what?" Cloud asked.

"I don't know, we should go up and ask her. Where are Tifa and Barret?

"They should be up there too at the bar."

"Are you sure about that though Cloud? We should go up and check. Zack should come too. Grab your weapons incase something is happening."

"Let me come too!" Aerith shouted. They all headed upstairs and heard people arguing outside. Marlene was sitting on the stairs with her legs crossed and frowning.

"Shhhh" she whispered. "Tifa and Barret are arguing with mean people, they told me to go upstairs but I'm too scared."

"Don't worry sweety, I'll come up with you. Zack, Cloud make sure everything is ok." Vincent then picked up Marlene in his arms and walked up the stairs.

"Yay! Vincent!"

"Everything sounds so intriguing" Aerith said. Zack and Cloud barged through the doors to exit the bar and found Tifa and Barret surrounded by members of SOILDER.

"Just leave us alone! We're tired of your shit shinra!" Barret shouted. Him and Tifa had fighting stances and so did the members of SOILDER. Most of them were first class with a second classes scattered about.

"We just want to speak to the Nibelheim survivors" said a mysterious voice.

"Well they don't want to speak to you! So piss off!"

"Oh Barret, that isn't the way to speak to a lady." The person behind the voice stepped forward and it turned out to be a women. She was wearing a black suit and had long blonde hair.

"You're not a women. You're too villainous to even be on the same level as one"

"Thanks for the insult babe that really hurt me."

"Shut up Scarlet. Just leave us alone."

"Leave you alone? You're the one that thought you destroyed Shinra six months ago. Sure we might not be as big as we are then but we're still around. Thanks to your little stunt I am also the president so yay for me. Just let me speak to the boys and we'll leave" She hadn't noticed them yet but they quickly ran back in.

"Shit! This is serious. What are we going to do?"

"We can't do anything Cloud we're stuck. We should go out and help Tifa and Barret. Aerith you upstairs to Vincent and tell him whats going on, then go downstairs and tell everybody too. We're getting ready to fight."

"Will do Zack!" She then ran upstairs as fast as she could.

"Ok Cloud, lets go."

The two walked out in a fancy fashion. Everybody noticed them this time and they stopped arguing. Scarlet stared at them but was smiling like an eight year old, showing her teeth. Everyone we was circling Barret and Tifa. Everyone from SOLDIER had their attention on their weapons. They were pretty big so it was hard to miss.

"So here they are... the Nibelheim survivors."

"Hey! How do you know where we are from?" Zack asked.

Scarlet then began to move towards the two.

"Well to be perfectly honest it was a guess but now you've just proved it was true."

Cloud hit Zack on the back of the head.

"You idiot!"

"Anyway, the details in that interview were very brief but when you mentioned Sephiroth and revenge I assumed you were them."

"What do you mean by 'them'?"

"Well, after the incident Shinra had to do something about it but we never did. There were rumours going around at the time saying people survived and we wanted to track those people down and talk to them about the day."

"But how did you know what we were talking about when we mentioned revenge?"

"Well, surprisingly only one person died that day and that was Mr Inman, your maths teacher. I thought to myself that no one would go that far for their maths teacher I know I wouldn't. Unless I were related or had a strong connection with the teacher. So, it was all a guess that you two were the survivors but it all turned out to be true."

"You clever bitch!" Barret shouted.

"Not clever, no. Just lucky."

"What I don't get is how did all them people survived that immense heat and there was an explosion in the room next to us" Zack was puzzled.

"No one was actually in that room, Sephiroth used it to gain everybody's attention. Kinda attention whore-ish if you ask me. As soon as the explosion went off most people ran out of the building anyway, including the teachers. The only people left in the school at that time was everybody in your maths class."

"How do you know all of this?"

"I know all of this because... I was watching the TV at the time and when you left everybody poured at of the school. One of your classmates got interviewed and said his teacher was murdered. That was the only recorded death for that day."

"So this was just a huge guessing game?"

"STOP ASKING ME THINGS I HAVE ALREADY SAID...but yes."

Everybody stopped shocked. How could this women be this smart without even knowing it? How did she know so much?

"Ok, how did you know about the room being empty?"

"AGAIN URGH, it was from that interview."

"Kinda ironic how you said Zack and Cloud were being brief in their interview but you're leaving out important details." Tifa said butting in.

"Shut up ugly girl."

"Excuse me!? Look at your nose!"

Scarlet gasped. "How dare you say that to me! Anyway I'm not here for you, I'm here for the boys."

"What would we gain if we came with you?"

"Good question. I can't answer it. But if you say no then you'll have to fight all of these SOLDIER members."

"Then no."

"WHAT?!...All right then. Suit yourself." Scarlet then turned around and headed into the helicopter directly behind her.

"I went through all this trouble for nothing." She added.

The SOLDIER members then started to attack everybody. Sword were swinging everywhere and you could hear the clangs from two swords hitting each other. They were like robots, their movements were perfect. A big gang of them headed towards Zack and Cloud (who were still in their school uniform). Their accuracy was as steady as a rock and Zack and Cloud barely stood a chance. But luckily they knew how to use a sword well and took out a couple by stabbing them through the chest. Then suddenly more people barged out of the bar.

"Hey you mother fuckers having a party without me?" Cid looked extremely happy to be here. "WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOO."

"Cid calm down." Yuffie came out with a big shuriken and she was even wearing some battle clothes. Nanaki came out roaring and with his tail on fire and Cait Sith riding on his head.

"Hey where's Vincent?" Yuffie asked.

"He's staying with Marlene. He wants to protect her." Zack told her. Out of nowhere another SOLDIER member jumped up to attack Tifa.

"No ya don't!" Cloud jumped up too, pushed the soldier to the ground and put his sword through his chest.

"CLOUD! I WOULD OF HAD HIM MYSELF!"

"TIFA CALM DOWN! I SAVED YOUR LIFE!"

"Asif" she added.

Zack was getting the attention of the soldiers so he could run and they would follow, letting Nanaki catch up and kill all of them.

Aerith stayed in the bar because she can't fight, she went to see Marlene.

"Marlene? Vincent? Can I come in?"

"AERITH!" An ecstatic Marlene jumped up and opened the door for Aerith. Marlene's room was near enough all pink and filled with teddy bears and dolls. In the corner she had a big doll house and to the right of that was a table with a bed side lamp on it (which was turned on). On the left hand side was her wardrobe and draws filled with clothes. Vincent was sitting right beside her bed.

"Hi Aerith." he said. "What's going on outside?"

"I'm not too sure either, but I know that they're fighting. I told everyone about it and I'm here to tell you, so if you want to go and help you can. I'll look after Marlene."

"Are you sure? I feel bad just leaving her here but I can't be the only one missing out."

"Vincent! It's ok if you want to go. I'll just play with Aerith" Marlene said with a smile.

"Ok Marlene, I'll go but stay in this room and don't leave Ok?" Vincent smiled back.

"I will, Aerith will keep me safe."

"I'm going now. See you later." Vincent got up and left the room leaving Aerith ans Marlene together. He then rushed downstairs and ran out of the door.

"Yo here's Vincent! How's Marlene?" Barret asked.

"She's doing fine, she knows what's going on and wanted me to help. Aerith is looking after her right now."

"Ok good! As long as she's safe that's all I care about."

Vincent began shooting people along side Barret, they were back to back. The SOLDIER members were falling like dominoes. Suddenly what seemed like thousands become hundreds and Zack and Cloud were doing good for their first real battle. They defeated an average amount of enemies, no where near as much as Barret but he has a gun. The enemy also had guns but their aim was terrible, even though they could use a sword almost perfect for some reason they mustn't of been taught how to use a gun properly. Vincent and Barret were picking off the ones in distance, Nanaki and Cait Sith were getting the ones closest to the bar, while everybody else was just running at them freely. There was blood all in the dirt and Cid screamed out saying it was a blood bath. Surprisingly no one that was defending Cloud and Zack got hurt even though they had been fighting for some time now. Sweat was dripping down from their faces and some people like Cloud were just too tired and couldn't move anymore. Scarlet's helicopter came swirling back around and she had a megaphone.

"RETREAT YOU IDIOTS! THEY'RE TOO GOOD FOR YOU! Hasn't SOILDER got crappy over the past few years?" then she left yet again. The swarm that Cloud and Zack were scared of disbanded and it was just them and the other people left outside.

"Wow, Zack, Cloud. I'm glad we got to see you fight then. You guys are amazing, how did you learn that when you were in school?" Barret asked.

"Well, after the incident that destroyed Nibelheim I met someone called Angeal, he sadly died but he left his sword to me. I taught myself how to use it and Cloud feeling left out wanted one, so he made his own."

"Impressive" Cid added.

"I wonder why Scarlet wanted us that much, if she wanted to bribe us she should have had something to give us." Cloud said.

"Wait, so you're saying you would of went?" Barret replied.

"I never said that! I'm just saying she was stupid"

"Not really, she figured out everything about you and Zack and about what happened at your school today just by watching tv"

"I guess, she was strange though. None of us watched the news today did we?" Cloud asked everybody.

"I did" said Barret. "She was telling the truth. It was strange though because when you mentioned revenge I thought it was over your teacher too, I had no idea about your past. But Cloud you said that he killed innocent people, so I guess people we right to assume that Sephiroth killed more than one person in there."

"I'm so confused right now" Tifa added.

"TIFA! Alls you do is butt in my conversations!" Cloud shouted at her. "But Barret I was in a rush, millions of cameras in my faces I didn't know what to say so I said that."

"You made a lot of people confused that's for sure."

There was a moment of silence.

"So...uh... when are we going back in?" Asked Zack.

"Oh yeah right, kiddo before this whole thing happened I built your bed so you can go to sleep now you lazy shit" Cid said.

"Thanks Cid, I'm just going to lie there for a bit."

They all walked in to see Aerith and Marlene just standing there.

"Sorry, I tried to get her asleep but she couldn't with all of the noise"

"It's ok Aerith, Marlene usually stays up late anyway which she shouldn't!" Barret then gave Marlene an evil look.

"Sorry Daddy..." Marlene put on a sad face.

"Nonononono it's ok" Barret picked up Marlene and turned around. "I'm going to take Marlene to bed now, then go to bed myself. Night guys" Everybody said night back.

They all headed down into their base and just chilled for a bit.

Zack was lying in the bed with Cloud on the top bunk. Aerith was sitting down on it too. Nanaki was asleep and Cait Sith wasn't moving, probably indicating that the person controlling him was asleep. Cid was lying down on the small couch while Yuffie and Tifa we sitting next to each other.

"Hey, Tifa. Where will you go asleep?" Cloud asked.

"This couch is a pull out bed so me and Yuffie will sleep on this tonight. We probably won't be up early in the morning because of everything that happened before. So get a good long sleep, ok?"

"I will, it just depends if Zack and Aerith are smooching all night."

"Hey shut up Cloud, just because you want to go out with Tifa."

"Maybe..."

"Cloud!" Tifa screamed.

"What's wrong with that?" He wondered. Tifa went silent.

"Haha got you there."

"Shut up Cloud."

Tifa and Yuffie then got the pull out bed out and got dressed ready for bed. Cloud, Aerith and Zack didn't have any other clothes and just stayed in their school uniform. It was uncomfortable for them but they had no other choice. Cloud is too small to fit into anyone else's clothes and Zack is too big (with the exception of Barret) but he probably sleeps in his underwear anyway.

"Vincent where are you sleeping?" Aerith asked. Vincent pointed his finger to a coffin in the corner.

"Over the re." he said. There was a joke among the group that Vincent was a vampire. It doesn't really annoy him but everybody gets a laugh out of it every once in a while.

"How come?" She asked.

"I just like sleeping in coffins, don't ask me why."

"Sorry." she said.

"It's ok, it just gets on my nerves after a while with people always asking me."

"Maybe you shouldn't be so weird." Cloud expressed.

"Shut up you asshat!" Tifa shouted at him. "We should all go to sleep soon I think Cid has and Nanaki and Cait Sith definitely have."

"I agree with you." Yuffie said. "I want to get back to my dream I was having last night about a special materia. It's all white and no one knows what it is or what it does. Rumour has it that it will grant any one wish."

"Strange materia." Cloud said. "Is the white materia real or only in your dreams?"

"It's real, except it doesn't grant one wish, in fact. I don't know what it does, but my goal is to find it. There is only one in existence and it would be amazing to stumble upon it one day."

"Maybe we'll find it on our adventure."

Tifa got up on turned off the lights.

"Night." They all replied saying night back.

The morning came and everybody was as fit as a fiddle. Zack and Cloud had pains all over their body for moving that much though but everybody else was fine, they'd all done that before. They all sat down and had breakfast together and began packing their things for the journey. Zack packed all the things he bought yesterday from the shop and his sword. Cloud didn't pack anything except for his sword, Tifa had the most out of anyone (even materia hunter Yuffie) her bag was filled with clothes and barely any useful things. Barret stormed down into the base.

"Tifa... what are you doing?"

"Packing my suitcase..."

"Do you think this is a holiday? You only need a small bag. Like what Zack has his stuff in."

"But what about my clothes?"

"You don't need clothes! Ok, you might need an extra pair but the only three people that need clothes out of all of us are Zack, Cloud and Aerith. So when we get started on our journey I'm taking the three of them to a clothes shop."

"Thanks Barret, these school clothes are so annoying." Aerith said with a smile on her face.

Materia Hunter Yuffie is obviously taking her box of materia with her as she doesn't want it to go missing. Cid and all the others aren't taking anything though except for their weapon.

"Barret, what's going to happen to Marlene?" Asked Vincent.

"I was thinking about taking her with us."

"WHAT?! It's too dangerous no way she can come."

"Well no one else will look after her and besides it's not like anything bad will happen to her when she has her Dad around."

"Are you sure about that? Look at yesterday for an example."

Barret went silent.

"If you can't find anyone to look after her I'll do it myself."

"Vincent don't be like this. We're all doing this together. Marlene is going to come but she's going to stay extra close to us. I've already packed her things and she will be so happy to spend all this time with us."

"Barret, I can't believe you're doing this. This world is more dangerous than you think."

"Well no shit Vincent, that's why we stopped Shinra didn't we? To stop everything that they were doing. They were making the planet more violent than less. You saw what they did to those people didn't you? What if that was you?"

Vincent fell silent and left the room. He walked outside the bar and waited there for everybody else.

"Barret you fucking idiot! Did you forget about his past?" Cid was annoyed. Barret just said the one thing that Vincent never wanted to talk about. What happened to him before he joined up with everybody.

"What about his past?"

"Are you fucking retarded? Y'know what? I agree with Vincent Marlene should stay here, I'll find somebody to look after her if I have to."

"Cid stop it."

"No, I won't. You want to know something funny? Vincent protects Marlene more than you and he isn't even her real da-" Barret ran up towards Cid and punched him in the face. He was so infuriated by what he just said he couldn't control his anger. Getting told that you're not the best Dad for your daughter drove him over the edge.

"SHUT YOUR FUCKING FACE NOW CID"

"Or what? You gonna punch me in the face again? Boohoo I'm crying."

"GUYS STOP THIS NOW!" Tifa rose her voice so that she was nearly screaming. "Barret, you were an idiot for bringing Vincent's back story into this. I agree with Cid" Cid cheered in the background. "But Cid! You did not have to say that Vincent was a better Dad than Barret! How would you feel if you got told you weren't even the best Dad for your Daughter?"

"I dunno, I don't have a daughter."

"CID!" Tifa threw her bag full of clothes at him. "Stop trying to be so clever."

"I'm not, I'm just being me."

Aerith couldn't stand people arguing so she spoke up.

"Umm... Can we stop this? I don't agree Marlene should come on this trip either but it's her Dad's choice to do what is 'best' for her."

"Ok, I guess. I'm going outside to join Vincent." Cid left the room and headed up to the top to go outside with Vincent.

Cloud began to whisper to Zack.

"The tension is high amongst these people, don't ya think?"

"I thought the same, I'm with Cid on this though, Marlene shouldn't come with us, it's reckless and in my opinion Vincent has been better to her from what I've seen."

"I totally agree with you Zack. This Barret dude is being kind of a dick. We should nominate Cid for our leader but it will be disrespectful for what this guy has done for us."

"I agree, let's go outside and talk to Vincent and Cid."


End file.
